The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of royalties thereon or therefore.
(1). Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system for the multiplexing and interrogation of fiber optic Bragg grating based sensors.
(2). Description of the Prior Art
Fiber optic Bragg gratings are periodic refractive index differences written into the core of an optical fiber. They act as reflectors with a very narrow reflected wavelength band, while passing all other wavelengths with little loss. Temperature or strain changes the wavelength at which they reflect. They can be made into sensors for any one of a number of measurands by designing a package that strains the grating in response to changes in the measurand.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,633,748 to Perez et al.; 4,996,419 to Morey; 5,627,927 to Udd; 5,493,390 to Varasi et al.; and 5,488,475 to Friebele et al. illustrate the use of Bragg gratings as a sensor. All of the sensors in these patents function by using the shift of the Bragg grating reflection wavelength.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,832 to Ball et al. relates to a birefrigent active fiber laser sensor. While Ball et al. use more than one Bragg grating laser in his sensor, they use each laser singly rather than in a pair. Moreover, each laser is birefringent such that it lases in two separate polarization modes at different frequencies. Ball et al. detect the wavelength difference between these two modes. The use of birefringent sensors means that Ball et al. must arrange the measurand to affect the birefringence. Ball et al. determine the frequency difference between the two birefringent modes by electronically measuring the beat or difference frequency. The present invention does not use lasers which are birefringent nor rely on changes in birefringence.
An alternative sensor is the fiber optic Bragg grating laser. Two gratings at matched wavelengths are written into a length of optical fiber which is doped to be an active medium. The most common is an Erbium doped silica glass fiber. When power from a pump laser is injected into the cavity, the structure emits output laser light. If the cavity is short enough, the emission is in a single longitudinal mode. Any measurand which strains the cavity causes the laser emission to shift in wavelength.
The difficulty to date has been in developing systems which can both read the wavelength shift, and hence the strain, with great sensitivity, and do so efficiently for multiple sensors. The most sensitive techniques developed have used interferometric means to measure the shift in wavelength. However, these techniques measure only dynamic changes and are incapable of reading absolute values. A device such as the Wavemeter sold by Burleigh Instruments uses an interferometric technique to give both high sensitivity and absolute measurements. However, it does so by changing the path delay in the interferometer, resulting in a slow measurement. Diffraction based spectrum analyzers have limited resolution, 0.1 nm corresponding to 60 microstrains. Fabry-Perot etalon spectrum analyzers have high resolution but read relative wavelength.
Accordingly, it is an object to provide an improved system for interrogating a plurality of fiber optic Bragg grating based sensors.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system as above which provides efficient measurement of many sensors with absolute measurements, high strain sensitivity, high dynamic range, and fast measurements.
The foregoing objects are achieved by the sensor interrogation system of the present invention.
In accordance with the present invention, a sensor interrogation system broadly comprises an optical fiber, at least one sensor containing first and second fiber lasers attached to the optical fiber with the first fiber laser being located spectrally at a first wavelength and the second fiber laser being located spectrally at a second wavelength different from the first wavelength, means for causing light to travel down the optical fiber so as to cause each of the fiber lasers to lase at its distinct wavelength and generate a distinct laser signal representative of the distinct wavelength; filter means for receiving the laser signals generated by the first and second lasers and for transmitting the laser signals from the first and second lasers within a wavelength band, and means for receiving the laser signals and for determining the wavelength difference between the fiber lasers.
A method for interrogating a sensor system having an optical fiber, at least one sensor containing first and second fiber lasers attached to the optical fiber with the first fiber laser being located spectrally at a first wavelength and the second fiber being located spectrally at a second wavelength broadly comprises the steps of causing light to travel down the optical fiber so as to cause each of the fiber lasers to lase at its distinct wavelength and generate a distinct laser signal representative of the distinct wavelength. transmitting the laser signals generated by the first and second fiber lasers to a filter means, allowing laser signals within a wavelength band to pass through said filter means, providing analyzer means to receive the laser signals passed through the filter means, and determining the wavelength difference between the first and second fiber lasers from the received laser signals.
Other details of the sensor interrogation system of the present invention, as well as other objects and advantages attendant thereto, are set forth in the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals depict like elements.